Discovering Which Ovarian Cancer Treatments Don’t Work

70% of women who develop ovarian cancer have what’s called high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, or HSC - the ovarian cancer that’s the most malignant. 80,000 women around the world die from HSC each year. That number hasn’t moved in decades despite other advances in cancer treatments. In many cases, this is because women with HSC don’t respond to chemotherapy. After treatment is done, the tumors may come back within a matter of weeks or months. According to Medical News Today,

“Co-senior author and professor David Bowtell, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia, says our current knowledge is not good enough to make effective clinical decisions about how to deal with ovarian cancer that returns after treatment:

"For decades clinicians around the world have watched HSCs shrink under attack from chemotherapy, before returning aggressively months or years later."

In their paper, he and his colleagues describe how they completely sequenced the genomes of 114 HSC samples from 92 patients and found several clues about how the aggressive cancer changes from initially being vulnerable, to eventually becoming highly resistant to chemotherapy.

The samples were collected from the patients at various stages in disease progression - some at diagnosis, some following successful and unsuccessful treatment, and others immediately after death.

First genetic map of how HSC ovarian cancer evolves in response to chemotherapy

Prof. Bowtell explains that by completely sequencing the genomes from samples taken at different stages of the disease, for the first time we have a map of how HSC evolves under the selective pressure of the chemotherapy.

The results reveal at least four genetic changes that the cancer undergoes to evade initially effective chemotherapy. Prof. Bowtell describes them:

"In two of the mechanisms, cancer cells find a way of restoring their ability to repair damaged DNA and thereby resist the effects of chemotherapy; in another, cancer cells 'hijack' a genetic switch that enables them to pump chemotherapy drugs out of harm's way.

A further mechanism sees the molecular structure of the cancer tissue shift and reshape, such that sheets of 'scar tissue' appear to block chemotherapy from reaching its target."

The researchers say this is the first time that the complex disease has been mapped at this level of detail, and believe their findings point to a range of new strategies that could be used to improve prospects for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.”

Read the entire article here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/294575.php

3 Statistics Every Person Should Know About Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer may not be the most prevalent cancer in women, but it’s still important that all people, men and women alike, understand the impact of the disease. That’s why we want to take the time to spotlight important statistics about ovarian cancer from OvarianCancer.org:

“Ovarian cancer accounts for approximately three percent of cancers in women.

While the 11th most common cancer among women, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death among women, and is the deadliest of gynecologic cancers. Mortality rates are slightly higher for Caucasian women than for African-American women.

A Woman’s Lifetime Risk:

A woman’s lifetime risk of developing invasive ovarian cancer is 1 in 75. A woman’s lifetime risk of dying from invasive ovarian cancer is 1 in 102.

Age:

Ovarian cancer rates are highest in women aged 55-64 years. The median age at which women are diagnosed is 63, meaning that half of women are younger than 63 when diagnosed with ovarian cancer and half are older.

The median age of death from ovarian cancer is 71. Ovarian cancer survival rates are much lower than other cancers that affect women. Five-year survival rates are commonly used to compare different cancers. The relative five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer is 44.2 percent. Survival rates vary greatly depending on the stage of diagnosis.  Women diagnosed at an early stage—before the cancer has spread—have a much higher five-year survival rate than those diagnosed at a later stage. Approximately 15 percent of ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed early with early stage disease.”

Ovarian cancer is so devastating because it often masquerades as other illnesses or diseases until it may be too late. That’s why it’s so important to dedicate time, energy, and money to fighting ovarian cancer.

Learn more facts about ovarian cancer at OvarianCancer.org: http://www.ovariancancer.org/about/statistics/

Infertility and Ovarian Cancer

As part of treating ovarian cancer, many women lose one or both ovaries. In either case, women who’ve been treated for ovarian cancer may be infertile. While many women who develop ovarian cancer are past the age when they can have children, not everyone is. Cobie Smulders is a celebrity example of a person who had ovarian cancer, but went on to have children.

Because every case is different, women with ovarian cancer may want to know their options. Fortunately, there could be many different venues for women with ovarian cancer to maintain fertility. Here is some information on how ovarian cancer can affect fertility in women from the University of Rochester Medical Center:

“Fertility refers to your ability to produce children. Some women who are treated for ovarian cancer still maintain their fertility, while others don’t.

You may still be able to become pregnant if you have only one ovary removed to treat the cancer. Keeping your fertility options while maintaining the healing potential of the treatment required for ovarian cancer can often be a complicated management decision. It is very important that your particular findings be put into context by an expert. Gynecologic oncologists are subspecialists with advanced training in the diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance of female cancers including ovarian cancer.

You may be infertile, meaning you cannot become pregnant without medical intervention, if you had any of these treatments for ovarian cancer:

Surgery to remove both of your ovaries.

Chemotherapy. Many chemotherapy drugs can cause the menstrual cycle to stop and disrupt the function of your ovaries.

Radiation directed at your pelvic area. Radiation can affect your ovaries’ ability to produce a mature egg.

If you had any of these treatments and you want to have children, see a reproductive endocrinologist. This is a doctor who specializes in infertility treatment. A multidisciplinary team approach, which includes a gynecologic oncologist and a reproductive endocrinologist, may be required.”

Learn more about treatment options by reading the entire article here: http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=34&ContentID=19758-1

New Cancer Biomarkers for Ovarian Cancer Could Aid Detection Efforts

When it comes to detecting cancers, ovarian cancer has long been proclaimed one of the hardest cancers to find. That’s because it’s usually fairly advanced before it’s found and can be treated. However, new research is finding new biomarkers for ovarian cancer, which could help doctors identify and treat it. According to a recent news article,

“UC San Diego researchers say they have found a potential new diagnostic for ovarian cancer, one of the most difficult cancers to detect and treat.

The discovery of six isoforms of messenger RNA specific to ovarian cancer could also lead to new therapies, the researchers say in a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (If the article is not yet live, please check back later).

Christian L. Barrett was the study's first author; the senior author was Kelly A Frazer.

Ovarian cancers typically don't show symptoms until well-established. While most respond to therapy at first, recurrences become progressively more difficult to treat.

Scientists at UCSD School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center used bioinformatics to screen public genetic databases sponsored by the NIH, eventually finding six mRNA isoforms that were reliably present in 296 ovarian cancer samples but not present in 1,839 normal tissue samples. These molecules are specific enough to be used in a test for the early detection of ovarian cancer, the scientists said.

Moreover, some of the mRNA code for proteins representing potential new therapeutic targets, the paper found.

"We were inspired by many studies aimed at using DNA to detect cancer," Barrett said in a UCSD press release. "But we wondered if we could instead develop an ovarian cancer detection test based on tumor-specific mRNA that has disseminated from cancer cells to the cervix and can be collected during a routine Pap test."

The researchers validated their findings by searching for and finding these mRNA isoforms in ovarian cancer cells grown in the lab. They suggest that similar testing could be done for 30 other cancers in which sufficient amounts of mRNA have already detected.”

Read the full article here: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/may/25/ovarian-cancer-ucsd/

Detecting Ovarian Cancer Just Got Easier

Ovarian cancer is known as the silent killer because its symptoms often mask as other problems until the disease is quite advanced. Pain can be “waved away” as stomach pain or run-of-the-mill reproductive pain. That’s why it’s so critical for ovarian cancer detection methods to improve. Fortunately, one research team is working on the problem:

“Detection of ovarian cancer was significantly improved in a study that used a risk algorithm based on changes in serum cancer antigen 125 (CA125) levels over time rather than relying on traditional fixed CA125 cutoff values.

As part of the ongoing United Kingdom ovarian cancer trial involving more than 200,000 women, researchers found that the risk algorithm could detect 87% of ovabrian cancers, compared with fewer than 50% of cancers identified using cutoff values.

The findings could substantially improve the early detection of ovarian cancer, which is associated with 6-month survival rates of less than 5% if it is diagnosed at an advanced stage, say the researchers.”

Read the original article at Medscape: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/844673

Good News: Ovarian Cancer Death Rates Drop

New studies have shown tremendous improvements in ovarian cancer outlooks for patients over the past half-century. Advances in medical care mean that women who are diagnosed with the disease, called the “silent killer,” are more able to be treated. Better options in healthcare, chemotherapy, and surgery are helping to boost survival rates for women. According to the study:

“Women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, traditionally viewed as an aggressive killer, are much more likely to survive the disease than they were several decades ago, new research shows.

"Ovarian cancer, unfortunately, is associated with a very high death rate," said study author Dr. Jason Wright, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.

But that seems to be changing, he said.

"We wanted to do this study because there have been a number of advances in the treatment of ovarian cancer," Wright said. "There is better surgery, better chemo and better ways to deliver the chemo. More recently, there has also been a better understanding of the biology and genetics of the cancer."

To see if these advances have made an impact on survival rates, Wright's team evaluated nearly 50,000 women who were diagnosed with the disease between 1975 and 2011. All of the data came from a large national cancer database.

"We compared survival for women with cancer compared to women without cancer [in the general population]," he said.

After accounting for advances in general medical care, Wright said, "women diagnosed in 2006 compared to those diagnosed in 1975 are about 50 percent less likely to die from their ovarian cancer."

Survival improved for all stages of ovarian cancer from 1975 to 2011, Wright found. Women with stage 1 cancers were 49 percent less likely to die of the cancer in 2006. Those with stage 3 and 4 cancers were about 51 percent less likely to die.”

Read the entire article here: http://www.webmd.com/ovarian-cancer/news/20150507/study-sees-improving-survival-odds-for-ovarian-cancer

Celebrating World Ovarian Cancer Day 2015

We're so excited to celebrate World Ovarian Cancer Day on May 8th! This year, the event is promoting the #UnbreakableBond campaign, hoping to help women band together to raise awareness about ovarian cancer. According to an article at EmpowHer,

"May 8, 2015, will be the third annual World Ovarian Cancer Day. The first day was observed in 2013, by an international group of representatives from patient organizations working in ovarian cancer. The organization is dedicated to creating and raising awareness about ovarian cancer to ensure all women know about the disease. 

Calaneet Balas, CEO of OCNA, strongly believes in supporting those women affected by this devastating disease. Balas believes that cancer still carries a big stigma in many countries around the world, especially when it comes to women. Due to limited treatment options and low survival rates, many women often feel loneliness and abandonment along with their cancer diagnosis rather than receiving the support they really need at this time from family and friends. If ovarian cancer is found and treated before the cancer spreads outside of the ovaries, the five-year survival rate is 92 percent, but only 15 percent of all ovarian cancer cases are found at this early stage, the American Cancer Society said. 

"In some countries they talk about cancer, but they don't talk about women's cancer, and gynecologic cancer is still taboo across the board. We certainly don't talk about it here in the United States," Balas said. 

By coming together since the first meeting, the World Ovarian Cancer Day group "has built and will continue to build a sense of solidarity in the fight against the disease," Balas said. The group has been addressing gaps in understanding and managing the disease, building awareness and increasing funds for research."

You can read the whole article  here, and help us raise awareness for ovarian cancer on our Facebook page here!